


The Dallas Stars Anime Club

by Proxima_Centauri



Series: Dirty Little Secret-verse (fka Tazer's Crochetverse) [3]
Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Anime, Comfort, Cuddling, Gen, coping with the jordie benn montreal trade, coping with the stars season, hockey players watch anime, in which jamie freaks out because his brother got traded, rating is mostly for swearing, shipping happens if you squint hard enough but i mostly just view it as friendly cuddling, super delayed continuation of a verse, the one in which jamie is a massive weeb, verse expansion, we're back again~
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-20
Updated: 2017-04-20
Packaged: 2018-10-21 05:49:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10678986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Proxima_Centauri/pseuds/Proxima_Centauri
Summary: Jamie's glowering down at his cauliflower rice, thinking over potential setups and plays that might be able to eke out a win or two, when Tyler barges in waving his phone. “Oh my God Jam, we’re going to this. I don’t even care if you want to go home, you can go after this.”He switches to glowering at Ty for a second before snatching the phone out of his hands, squinting at the screen. “A-Kon? In June?” He knew an anime convention must theoretically exist in a city as big as Dallas, but he didn’t really expect it to be during a time when they could possibly attend around their work schedules. The only thing that would really keep them from it would be a deep playoff run, the likes of which he hasn’t experienced since entering the NHL.He really doesn’t mean to rain on Segs’ parade, but. “We can’t go, Tyler.” He receives a ‘why not’ face in response. “We’re kind of famous. We’d get swarmed.”Tyler rolls his eyes. “Dude. Cosplay.”What.





	The Dallas Stars Anime Club

**Author's Note:**

> If you reached this page by googling yourself or someone you know, I'd like for you to press the back button now. However, I can't really stop you from doing anything, so eat your heart out. (This really only applies if you're Tyler Seguin, let's be honest.)
> 
> This is from a verse I recently expanded. It used to just be about Jonathan Toews and crochet but, as you can see from the new series titles, now includes basically anything that isn't widely known and could be considered embarrassing to a hockey player's machismo. In this particular fic only Jamie and Tyler watch anime religiously. It may be a bit muddled plot-wise, I tried to clean it up and make it cohesive and not just blurting my feelings onto digital paper. I also tried to pick anime that I figured they'd probably like, instead of all magical girl stuff.
> 
> The anime aspect of this fic is background information. The overarching themes of this fic are acceptance of one another and dealing with Jordie's trade. Just to be up front with everyone.
> 
> When prompted for titles for this work, my boyfriend suggested "The Cutest Kitty Pt. 1: The Kitty." So I guess that's an alternate title.

Jamie Benn is what some people would consider weeaboo nerd trash.

There are people who casually enjoy Japanese animation such as Miyazaki films, and then there are people like Jamie. People who buy subscriptions to anime services and preorder Blu-rays of their favorite series months in advance. People who collect the little figurines and keep them carefully organized in enclosed shelves, looked at but never touched. People who religiously keep detailed spreadsheets or websites of what shows they’re watching this season. People who get into _way_ too many heated discussions over the internet about how ‘your waifu is trash’. People who actually _know_ what a waifu or husbando are. Let’s not even bring up dakimakura pillows. (He’s got three.)

The really sad thing is, it’s getting really hard to hide it from most of his teammates anymore. Jordie keeps shouting “Hontou desu ka????” and “Nani?!?!?” every time they get into arguments, which prompted general confusion from the multilingual community around them who still couldn’t understand a word they were saying. He’s never been able to hide his hobby from his brother, considering he started watching Fullmetal Alchemist back when they were both living with their parents. He wonders what he did this time to piss him off bad enough to start screaming at him nonsensically in Japanese.

Tyler doesn’t help at all. He just shouts “TEME!” and jumps on Jordie’s back, trying his best (and generally failing) to force the elder Benn into a headlock. Tyler came to the team as a Naruto fanatic. Apparently he never really cultivated a sense of personal space either, since he wound up barging into Jamie’s anime room one evening after a few too many drinks. Segs had stared at all the figurines with wide eyes, taking it all in before turning to Jamie and grinning the smile of a kindred spirit.

Generally speaking, Jamie’s been pretty good at keeping all of this as far away from his day to hockey activities as possible. He won’t watch any new episodes while he’s on the bus or in the plane, which he doesn’t really mind since he’s usually busy visualizing the upcoming game or reviewing the last one in his head. He waits until he’s carefully ensconced in either his hotel room or his apartment to pull up Crunchyroll and catch up on the day’s releases. Sometimes Tyler wanders in and demands Jamie let him watch too – they usually wind up cuddled together so they can both catch up on Haikyuu! on Jamie’s tiny iPhone screen. It’s sort of like having a walking, talking dakimakura, except Jamie is pretty sure a live body is what the pillow is supposed to be replacing anyways.

The season is drawing to a close and while they’re not entirely out of the playoffs yet, it’s looking very unlikely that they’re going to have a postseason this year. The thought makes him scowl a bit – the rebuild was supposed to be rolling pretty well by now, but there’s rumors of offloading a bunch of guys to try and set up talent for another chance next year.

He’s glowering down at his cauliflower rice, thinking over potential setups and plays that might be able to eke out a win or two, when Tyler barges in waving his phone. “Oh my God Jam, we’re going to this. I don’t even care if you want to go home, you can go after this.”

He switches to glowering at Ty for a second before snatching the phone out of his hands, squinting at the screen. “A-Kon? In June?” He knew an anime convention must theoretically exist in a city as big as Dallas, but he didn’t really expect it to be during a time when they could possibly attend around their work schedules. The only thing that would really keep them from it would be a deep playoff run, the likes of which he hasn’t experienced since entering the NHL.

Tyler is positively _vibrating_ in front of him, he’s so excited. “It’ll be great! I can finally get enough merch down here to make my own anime room, then you can come over and watch stuff at mine and…”

He really doesn’t mean to rain on Segs’ parade, but. “We can’t go, Tyler.” He receives a ‘why the fuck not’ face in response. “We’re kind of famous. We’d get swarmed.”

Tyler rolls his eyes. “Dude. Cosplay.”

What.

\-------------------

This is how Jamie Benn winds up standing in a mirror staring at himself in an ANBU outfit. It solves most of the problem of his tattoos at least, since it has forearm guards. He’s deadpan as Tyler shoves a fake sword and a mask at him. The boar mask is cool to the touch as he puts it on. “You know, this actually isn’t a bad idea.” Tyler beams. “But I’m gonna have to take it off to see shit, and then we’re gonna get noticed.” Ty’s back to pouting.

“I go to Anime North in this and I never get noticed, even with my tats.” So he _had_ noticed Jamie staring at them, wondering how he’d get away with it. “It’s either this or walk around in a box of pocky all day.”

Jamie shakes his head – that’d be so much worse. “Nope. Should I order one of my own? This is yours, right?” He gestures at the whole costume, which is a little small for him. He’s surprised he could get the tactical vest fastened at all, he’s a lot bulkier than Tyler is.

Tyler nods. “Yeah, it’s mine, but I can call my costumer and get you one made. Just gonna grab your measurements.” He proceeds to wind his way around Jamie with a cloth measuring tape, stopping to tap the numbers into his phone every now and again. “I’m not Toews, I don’t have the time or patience to do this shit on my own.”

Jamie snorts. He’s still not sure how Jonathan Toews got so into crochet, even after watching his ‘coming out’ video. So long as he keeps getting cool handmade shit send to his door that keeps people thinking he has a girlfriend, he doesn’t actually care that much. That doily was _insane_. It’s huge. He puts it on his coffee table when company comes over.

Tyler drops down onto his bed, tapping into his phone before flopping backwards and putting it on his chest. “She usually takes a couple weeks, but it’ll definitely be done for the con. You can have some of my kunai and stuff to round out props.”

Jamie begins stripping off the costume. “Cool. Any suggestions for where to get the mask?”

Tyler just waves dismissively at him. “That’s yours. Keep it.” Jamie raises an eyebrow at him as he hangs things up and places them carefully in the section of Tyler’s closet where he’s got a few other costumes. “I have my own mask, dude. Plus shipping takes forever and that one suits you. If I really want another one I know where to get it.”

Jamie shrugs and goes to put the mask next to his car keys so he won’t forget it. He has a feeling that Tyler had been planning this for a while, if he had some of the stuff ordered already and a costume commission on standby. He can’t really let him down. “Yeah, okay. Guess we should buy badges soon.”

Tyler grins, already basically vibrating in his seat as he pulls up the registration page on his phone. Jamie looks away quickly, queueing up the next episode of One Punch Man to avoid thinking about why and how excited Tyler is about all of this.

\-------------------

The costume fits perfectly. Considering the amount of times he usually has to try on anything for additional alterations, with the exception of shorts and t-shirts, this is a minor miracle.

“Where’d you find this person, dude? I need them as my tailor. None of my suits even fit this well the first time around.” Jamie does a 180, looking at himself in the mirror.

Tyler grins. “Trade secret.” He shoves a pair of ninja sandals at Jamie before pulling on his own ANBU costume so they can get the full effect. “It’s too bad we can’t enter the masquerade with this, we’d mop the floor with everyone.”

Jamie agrees. The costumer did a great job - two of them look _amazing_. But the fact that they didn’t make any of this stuff, along with trying to keep a low profile, is exactly why they can’t enter. “Not that we should anyways, but yeah. It sucks.”

\-------------------

A week later Jordie’s gone, on a plane to Montreal, and Jamie’s standing in his apartment staring blankly into space in the kitchen. He knows he should go heat up some chicken, his body’s gonna start reacting badly if he puts off eating, but he can’t move. His brain is blank. Jordie was still a Star this morning, sitting in his apartment laughing at some stupid series concept when they got the call. Now he’s moving back to Canada. It’s business, and he knows that’s how these things go, but it happened so _fast_. He thought there would be more time. He got used to having his brother around to have dinner with him, drive places with him, take the window seat so he was forced to socialize instead of curling up in a ball in the corner with his phone. He knows it’s better for him in the long run, but he already misses him.

Tyler lets himself in, toeing off his shoes at the door. He pushes Jamie toward the anime room. “Go, I’ll be there in a minute,” he says quietly before heading over to the fridge. Jamie heads into the room and sits on the sofa. Tyler comes in and out, popping in Fullmetal Alchemist and making sure Jamie’s settled before appearing with a plate of something and a glass of water. Jamie eats it without looking at what it is, focusing on Roy Mustang trying to track down who did the unspeakable to Maes Hughes.

They don’t talk about the trade. They don’t talk at all, actually. When they’re done eating Tyler takes Jamie’s plate and puts it on the table before manhandling him down into the sofa cushions, making sure to hold on to him tightly as they find out what Envy did to Hughes.

Slowly, Jamie’s breaths even out and he falls asleep in Tyler’s arms.

\-------------------

The hits keep coming. Jordie’s not the only one gone by the end of the week. Eaves to the Ducks for a draft pick. Oduya back to Chicago for a draft pick and this McNeill kid that only plays one game before being sent down. Korpikoski to the Jackets for another kid named Heatherington. At least the guy they got for Jordie, Greg Pateryn, sticks around – they have to pull people up from Texas to fill the rest of the holes. Jamie knows it’s good for their future, good for another rebuild, but he’s sick of rebuilding. He wants a nice, deep playoff run. He wants to win, damn it. The fans deserve it for their loyalty in a state not known for its commitment to hockey. The team deserves it for all the shit they’ve gone through.

His badge arrives in the mail, hidden amongst the bills and junk mail. He almost misses it. He sets it to the side but won’t, can’t, care about it right now. There’s no time to focus on his hobbies or what he wants, he’s gotta keep the team going as best as he can.

\-------------------

As it turns out, he’s full of shit. The guys are getting frustrated with him and the season in general, how they just can’t seem to pull it out this year, and Jamie’s really only making it worse by pushing them harder when there’s no benefit to it. It all comes to a head when Sharpy stands outside his car after practice one day, informing him that he needs to stop acting like a machine and just calm the fuck down, he had enough of this shit with Tazer the first time around and he’s driving the team insane. They can only do so much with what they have, even management knows that, and it’s time for Jamie to let the grand scheme of the season go. Game to game is the best they can do right now.

Jamie realizes that he’s probably right and tries to loosen up a little on the hockey front. He gets a haircut so he doesn’t look quite so ragged around the edges. He fights a couple guys on other teams, even if they are a bit bigger than him and he can’t get a good hit in. He takes it one day at a time and encourages the guys to do the same. The atmosphere in the locker room lightens considerably.

When he comes home though, he locks the chain on the door so nobody can come in even if they do have a key. He can only pretend he doesn’t miss Jordie for so long, and he doesn’t want to when he’s at home. He sits on his bed and scrolls through his apps and ignores the world. Sharpy can’t tell him what to do here.

He’s fallen into an uneasy sleep when he hears his phone ring. He wipes a hand across his face to try and get rid of any lingering sleep and picks up without looking at it first. “This is Jamie,” he says as he puts the phone up to his ear.

“Little brother, I swear to God and sunny Jesus I will fly to Dallas and kick your ass if you don’t unlock the goddamn door this _instant_.”

It’s been a while since Jordie’s _growled_ at him. He doesn’t remember it ever happening over the phone. He’s a little shocked at that being what he’s woken up to. “What?”

“Unlock the door and let Seggy in or I’m calling mom and letting her ream your ass instead of me.” He hangs up on Jamie without another word, leaving him to stare at the blinking ‘call ended’ screen and finally hear the faint pounding at the door.

He stands, running his hands through his hair to try and get rid of some of his bedhead, and pockets his phone before doing as his brother says. Tyler is wild-eyed as he rushes into the apartment, looking around the room before looking Jamie over as he shuts the door. “Are you okay? You haven’t talked to me for days outside of the rink. What the fuck, man?”

Jamie has the decency to feel ashamed that he cut one of his best friends out of his life so suddenly. “I’m fine. I just… since Jordie…“

“You know, you’re not the only one who misses him, fucker.” Tyler’s mad now. He’s clenched his fists and Jamie knows he’s fighting not to crowd Jamie back into the wall. He’s never fought anyone that Jamie’s seen, on the ice or otherwise, but he’s come close before. Jamie takes a step back out of shock. “We all do. You don’t get to turn your back on the rest of us that are still here. It’s not fair to us, it’s not fair to Jordie, and it’s not fair to _you_.”

It’s then that Jamie remembers Tyler knows what being traded is like. “Fuck, Tyler. I-“

“No, Jamie. Snap the fuck out of it and remember that this isn’t all about you.” He turns for the door. “The team doesn’t want to feel like we lost both of you. And it’s not fair to Jordie to use him as an excuse for whatever the fuck this is.” He slams it on his way out.

Jamie winces. He fucked that up, and badly.

\-------------------

Tyler avoids Jamie for the next two weeks, no matter how much Jamie goes out of his way to try and apologize. Tyler still does press with him when needed but he’s out the door as soon as his team obligations are fulfilled. Jamie chews on his lip as he gets dressed, trying to figure out the best way to corner him and get an apology out. He’s already talked to the rest of the team, the guys taking pity and just shaking their heads at him as he trips his way through trying to talk about his emotional nuclear meltdown and how he just needed to try and control it as best he could. Spezza, being the fine alternate he is, actually laughs and tells him to shut up, that as long as his head is out of his ass now it’s fine. Johns claps him on the shoulder and sends him some kind of nonverbal message with his eyes before going back to sharpening his skates.

It’s then that Jamie realizes a lot of these guys have been traded or will be, and it really isn’t fair to them to react so poorly to one person’s trade and not react the same to the rest. It’s better to just be glad for what you had and hope for the best in their future. Armed with this realization, he knocks on Tyler’s door.

Tyler answers, a bottle of beer in his hand. “What, Jamie.” He sounds tired, like he’s sick of dealing with Jamie’s shit.

“I get it.” Jamie starts. Tyler sighs and starts trying to shut the door on him again. Jamie jams a foot forward between the door and the frame to keep it open. Tyler frowns. “It’s not fair to anyone else because I’m showing favoritism when everyone is just as important. It’s not fair to Jordie because it shows that I think we can’t do it without each other and that I don’t think he’s able to do it on his own. It’s not fair to me because it’s not letting me take advantage of what I’ve got here, now, with this team.” He swallows hard to prepare to get the next one out. “It’s not fair to you because it reminds you of Boston.”

Tyler stares at him incredulously for a minute, trying to figure out if Jamie actually knows what he’s trying to say. Whatever he finds there makes him step aside, making way for Jamie to move into his apartment. Tyler sits on the couch next to Marshall, who is snoring slightly. Jamie sits a section down from him, leaning his elbows on his knees.

“The trade probably sucks worse for him because he didn’t do anything wrong,” Tyler comments. “It’s really the opposite. He did everything right, which is why Montreal was interested when we started shopping around. He didn’t drag anyone along with him to help him out.” Tyler huffs out a laugh and scratches behind Marshall’s ears. “Plus now he has to speak French. Bet he doesn’t remember any of it.”

Jamie shuts his eyes, trying to gather his thoughts. He knows he has to have this conversation, but he doesn’t want to. He’d much rather hug it out and be done with it, but that would leave something festering between them. He can’t have that. Tyler is too important. “I know I was stuck in my head,” he begins. “It was never this personal. I let you and the team down.”

That makes Tyler put his drink down abruptly and frown. “Shut up about the damn team, Jamie. We adjusted just fine. _You_ were the one who kept walking around like someone died and throwing yourself into practice like you thought it’d bring him back. Even after Jordie called and told you to shape up, you still just…” He sighs, frustrated. “You didn’t do anything on days off, you shut yourself off. You weren’t happy. I can’t see you keep doing that. I can’t. It’s gonna destroy you if you don’t come to terms with it. There’s life outside of Jordie being around.”

“I know,” Jamie sighs and presses the heels of his palms to his eyes. “I’m trying. I’m gonna work on it.”

He can feel Tyler’s skepticism even without seeing him. “Yeah? Prove it.”

Jamie shakes his head and heads into the kitchen. He comes back out with his own beer, kicks off his shoes, and starts fiddling with his phone. Tyler’s Chromecast switches from the Spotify playlist he had on to a loading screen for the last episode of Naruto Shipuuden they’d left off on. “Twenty-four minutes at a time,” he promises as he settles into the cushions.

To most it would be concerning that his response to this intervention is loading something associated with avoidance tactics and generally anti-social behavior. Tyler, however, raises an eyebrow and curls up with the dogs. It’s a decent start to a return to normalcy, for them anyways.

\-------------------

The true test, however, comes in June.

Jamie steps out of the car, the heat already sweltering, in full ANBU gear. He can feel the sweat starting to roll down his back. Tyler pops out of the passenger seat, mask already on and bouncing up and down. “Jamie, come on, we’ve gotta go…!”

Jamie puts his mask on and allows Tyler to pull him toward Vic Mignogna’s panel. He’s fairly certain the guy would visit with them without the cosplay, but that would defeat the purpose of enjoying the convention. Tyler’s perfectly content mingling with the best of Dallas’ anime nerd fandom, screaming Japanese at people down the hallway and singing History Maker at the top of his lungs with all the fangirls as a Victor and a Yuri dance down the hallway in a mock rendition of pairs skating.

Jamie doesn’t really mind. They’re his people too, and he’s surprisingly having a decently good time despite being out of his comfort zone.

\-------------------

Jamie’s well-kept secret is officially revealed to the team when Tyler unwittingly sends a picture of the two of them in cosplay to his Snapchat story instead of his sisters. The ribbing Jamie receives is mostly good-natured. Sharpy breathes a sigh of relief that Jamie is finally doing something that isn’t working himself to death in the gym or on the ice.

A couple of the guys seem like they’re kind of interested in what they’re dressed up as. Once they hear the word ‘ninja’ they immediately count themselves in for a movie session to figure out what all this is about. Tyler gets straight to organizing Team Anime Night while Jamie laughs to himself. If he’d known this would have happened, he probably wouldn’t have spent so much time hiding his hobby from his team.

Probably best to still hide the dakimakuras and figurines, though. And the doily for good measure.

**Author's Note:**

> Gold star if you noticed the Shawshank Redemption reference. I didn't have a beta for this fic, so please suggest improvements or changes in the comments if you feel the need. Thanks for reading!


End file.
